Architect Ivan Shishkov: First gas volumes already coming from Azerbaijan

The completion of the gas interconnection between Bulgaria and Greece was a top priority of the caretaker government. This is an extremely important object not only for Bulgaria, but for the whole region, for which I and half of the ministers have been working since the first day of the cabinet. This is what the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, architect Ivan Shishkov, told BTV, who was among the official guests at the ceremony at the National Palace of Culture in Sofia to commission the facility.

 ”The most important thing is that together with the construction company, the supervision, the administration and the media, we managed to meet the deadline for gas to flow through the pipes from October 1. We did a lot of spot checks, workshops. We made great efforts because we knew how important the site is for the region. And today we congratulate ourselves with success,” architect Shishkov noted.

He recalled that he had divided the construction of the interconnector into two stages, as the only legal and technical way for the gas connection to be built qualitatively and without any compromises in terms of operational safety within the set deadlines, with the necessary documentation. For the second stage of the project, minor repairs such as a feeder road in the Stara Zagora area and anti-erosion measures along the routes must be completed. “There are minor things that need to be completed, but physically, in the timeframe that the project had to be completed, they would not have been ready and this would have delayed us,” the regional minister explained.

The Minister informed that gas from Azerbaijan is already flowing through the pipes. “The contracted quantities are currently for 1 billion cubic meters, but the capacity of the facility is for 5 billion cubic meters. They will be able to transit, but this is a matter of commercial arrangements,” architect Shishkov assured.